A mushroom plant worth 1 million dollars has been opened in the Northern Province of Rwanda, Musanze district reports Rwanda Times. It is a first button mushroom production plant to be opened in the East African nation which will be offsetting the over-reliance on imported mushrooms.
The plant is expected to produce 250 metric tonnes of button mushrooms annually to not only sell locally but also in the East African markets which currently import button mushrooms from Europe.
The climate in Rwanda is suitable for the production of the mushroom. The plant will also produce a special compost for local farmers to grow oyster mushrooms for own consumption and marketing.
“While the button mushrooms are really more of a business, the oyster mushrooms, which are the reason that the company exists in the first place, are easy to grow by farmers,” said Laurent Demuynck, Kigali Farms proprietor (owns the mushroom plant)
Laurent added that “We want the locals to learn to grow them, learn how to eat them and include them in their diet, then we’d like to start buying a little bit of their produce,”
The farm has trained 30 people to grow mushrooms on small scale. The company works with over 1500 farmers in production of oyster mushrooms.
